Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

272 reviews

jennireadsmaybe's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Black Sun has been on my radar for the longest time. I didn't know much about it going in, and I do think that's the way to go. Epic fantasy can sometimes fall prey to the dreaded info dump, but I think Rebecca Roanhorse did a phenomenal job of stretching out learning moments throughout the novel instead of all at once. Additionally, I genuinely enjoyed every point of view; not only was each POV necessary to the overarching plot, they were each unique and entertaining enough to jump between without wishing to skip one. I honestly couldn't pick a favorite character if you asked me to. 

There's a lot of moving parts in this. Between prophecies, politics, and magic of all kinds there's enough action and mystery to keep the pages turning. I definitely recommend an immersive reading experience with a physical and audio copy because it's got multiple narrators that capture everything so well. The world itself was so immersive and all the different settings throughout were easy for me to imagine; I could definitely see the similarities between the book and the Pre-Columbian Americas it's inspired by. I really liked the queer + trans representation and how normalized it was for our characters. 

Read this if you like epic fantasy, great world building, multiple POVs, political intrigue, ancient prophecies, magical worlds, and LGBTQIA+ characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, and Sexual content

jjvaldezbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

it stops at the climax but I kind of forgive it bc I liked the build up so much. I love and hate all the characters and I will absolutely be reading the sequel 

READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS bc good lord this one is dark and things pop up with no warning. i think they're well done and useful to the plot but if you have any triggers at all, check the lists first 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cryosphinx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The strength of this book comes from the world building and the diversity of the characters. There's a complexity between the characters and the world and it tackles themes such as colonization in a high\epic fantasy setting. Where it loses is that it feels like a really long prologue to the next book. The pinnacle comes together at the end but the ending isn't super satisfying since it it does read like a prologue. The beginning was also slow especially after that first hard hitting first chapter. I've only read one or two short stories by Roanhorse but I do really love her writing story and I hope for more indigenous authors to enter the fantasy space.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, and Alcohol

tommelisesofia's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I'm glad I waited until the whole series was out to start this one because THAT ENDING!

I loved the worldbuilding and the characters. The multiple religions felt fleshed out and made sense for the setting, as did the conflict that sprang from those religions. I loved that there was no true villain and that both Serapio and Naranpa were simply following the path that had been set out for them and doing their best with it. I also loved that the cultures we encounter in the book had varying attitudes to gender and sexuality as well as other cultural differences. Fantasy is so often either based in a fully homophobic and misogynistic world or in a fully queernormative one, and this approach makes so much more sense.

I do wish that the supporting cast had been more fleshed out. Iktan is the only non-POV character who felt fully fleshed out. I think that was mostly down to length, though. This book could have been 100-200 pages longer, though that might have slowed it down too much. And I did like the group scenes we got a whole lot (the ones with Xiala's crew maybe being the weakest of the lot).

I was expecting Xiala to be my favorite character because she's the sort of character I normally love and cannot get enough of, but while I quite enjoyed her, Naranpa was far and away my favorite. I adored her and spent the entire book rooting for her -- not necessarily for the sun priests and co generally, but very much for Naranpa in particular. And they're both bi! Truly a win for us all.

Excited to continue with the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, and Misogyny

nhollie's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

I’m really not sure about this book. The world is interesting (albeit confusing) but it’s just really slow and not much happens. And there’s so many characters that I don’t think any of them were particularly interesting or well developed. I feel very 😑🫤 about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Violence

purplatypus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, and Death of parent

hannaws's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

There are only two kinds of men: ones who betray you sooner and ones who betray you later.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide

jo_lzr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I liked reading this book and I'd definitely like to read the second one, especially for Naranpa's story as she is my favorite. Iran and Xiala are also characters I care about. I like Serapio and I hope that he can find a way to escape his destiny, but I don't like The Crow God,

though I am grateful that he killed Abah and Eche!

The worldbuilding and the magic system are very intriguing and well built, even though there is more to the magic system that we haven't seen yet and I'd definitely like to see more.

I want to see Iktan's perspective about what happened after xe realized that Naranpa was kidnapped. I like xir as a character, especially after seeing that xe wasn't like the rest of the traitors. 
I also thought it very ingenious how the traitors ended up unknowingly saving Naranpa's life by scheming against her. 
Furthermore, I loved the scene when the Crow God realized that Eche didn't have the sun's essence and that the real Sun Priest was somewhere else. I would love to see Naranpa discovering her potential, though I'm guessing that she might have to share the same fate as Serapio.

 
TW: If you're sensitive to images of body horror, please read with caution as they are graphically described.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, and Sexual content